The question
Who deserves an apology from you, and for what?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A fixed Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Sorry is such an underrated word – I use it liberally.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 July 2026 source ↗
My father, with whom I had a complex relationship: often, when I was young, his desire to protect me clashed with the stubbornness of my choices.
Helen Edmundson, because I wasn’t able to be a better friend at school.
Lots of people, mainly for being so absent from their lives while I was concentrating on sport. I’d also like to say sorry to my dad’s mum, because, aged four, I told her she was the worst cook in the world.
Anybody who’s written to me and not heard back yet.
Life’s too short to take offence.
Did I behave in the right way?
I bumped into an old schoolteacher and her even more ancient and deaf sister, and she shouted to her, “Remember Esther? Now she writes books … ABOUT HERSELF.”
Talking about the hardships of my mother’s life – she would not approve.
Last week, when I decided to rewrite the children’s book I’ve been working on.
We watch over those we love.
Harriet Walter, Felicity Jones, Chris Bryant, James Bay, Mo Gilligan, Ronnie O'Sullivan
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